SQ 100 - Section Properties

SQ 100 has a mass of 78.5 kg/m, tabulated to EN 10059. A 12 m length therefore weighs about 942 kg, which is the figure to use for a steel take-off or when checking a lift.

SQ 100 has a depth of 100 mm, a width of 100 mm, with a cross-sectional area of 100 cm². These are the nominal dimensions from EN 10059; rolling tolerances apply to the delivered section.

The plastic section modulus about the major axis, Wpl,y, is 250 cm³, and the elastic modulus Wel,y is 166.7 cm³. Wpl,y is what sets the moment capacity of a Class 1 or 2 section: M_pl,Rd = Wpl,y x f_y / gamma_M0, so at S355 with gamma_M0 = 1.0 this section reaches about 89 kNm before any stability check.

The second moment of area about the major axis, Iy, is 833.3 cm⁴, and about the minor axis Iz is 833.3 cm⁴. Iy is the value deflection depends on - for a simply supported beam under a uniform load, the midspan deflection is 5wL⁴/384EIy - so on spans where a deflection limit governs rather than strength, this is the number that decides the section.

iy is 2.89 cm about the major axis and iz is 2.89 cm about the minor axis. Column buckling is governed by the SMALLER value: the slenderness is lambda = L_cr / i, so with iz = 2.89 cm a 0.3 m effective length already gives lambda = 100. Minor-axis buckling almost always controls unless the weak axis is restrained.